If you are a small business owner then you can relate to how challenging it can be to track employees time and provide accurate time cards for payroll. You may find yourself spending a lot of time adding up all of your timesheets so everyone is paid appropriately. However, tracking employee hours manually can actually increase the opportunities for errors and cost your company a lot of money over time.

How punch rounding could be costing your company money

Many business owners use the punch rounding method when tracking hours. Although this can be an easy way to quickly add up time cards, it can also put your company outside its payroll budget. For example, say that an employee punches in 6 minutes late and you round their time down as starting the hour before the 6 minutes. That is 6 minutes the company just lost to begin the day.

Now, let's assume the same employee punches out 6 minutes before the next quarter of an hour and you round their time up. This is an additional 6 minutes lost which puts a total of 12 minutes per day of paid time that was never worked. If that person works 5 days per week then you would simply multiply the 12 minutes by 5 days to see that 60 minutes, or an hour, of time, was paid to an employee when they did not work for that hour.  

But wait, it doesn’t stop here. Think about how many weeks are in a full year. One hour of time per week multiplied by 52 weeks (total of weeks in a year) is 52 hours of lost time for only one employee. If this employee makes $17 per hour then your company lost a minimum of $884 for the year. This number may not seem very high, but remember this is just one employee that we are talking about. What’s that you say, you have 7 employees? Well, take $884 and multiply that by seven and you will definitely see how much money you are wasting by using the punch rounding technique when it comes to tracking your employee’s time.

How to track employees hours worked easily and conveniently

Useful online time clock systems have become a new and modern way for employers to have 100 percent accurate time cards. OnTheClock is an employee time clock company that allows employees to punch in and punch out, generate accurate time cards, and be sent over to your payroll provider. It’s very simple while saving companies time and money.

All employee punching times are logged and saved in a cloud-based system so employers can conveniently access their account from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. This has allowed over 7,000 OnTheClock customers to have a peace of mind when they are on the go, on vacation, or if they simply want to take the day off. No more worrying about who is on the clock working when you can simply check from a desktop, laptop or mobile device.

Benefits of using an online employee time clock

Prevent buddy punching
Buddy punching occurs when an employee punches in or out another employee that is not present or working. Ultimately this results as time theft which is equivalent to employees directly stealing money from their employers. According to a 2017 report by HR Daily Advisor, buddy punching can cost United States employers an estimated $373 million annually.

Reduce payroll expenses
Entrepreneur.com reports that payroll mistakes can cost approximately $4 to $9 each pay period. This may not sound like a lot of money, but depending on the size of your company and adding that up over a few years, then you can see how this little amount becomes a really big amount. An online time clock allows payroll providers to easily create accurate paychecks by spending less time doing so. And since the time cards are calculated to the exact minute, it will ensure a small business to stay within the payroll budget.

Have accurate documentation in the event of an audit
Although many business owners may think it will never happen to them, you never know when an audit may be performed on your company and you are asked to provide specific documents. The Department of Labor could be an organization that may request proof of employee hours worked. The last thing you want to do is be left looking like a deer in headlights on this one. Play it safe and track employee hours properly and give yourself a peace of mind.

Sourced by: https://smallbizbonfire.com/profiles/blogs/why-accurate-employee-time-tracking-is-important